IS hackers target Google but deface an Indian firm’s website

Hackers affiliated to the Islamic State terror group who promised to take down international search engine giant Google instead targeted a small Indian tech firm, according to a media report.

Cyber Caliphate Army (CCA), a hacking group affiliated to the IS, hit www.addgoogleonline.com registered by Gandani K for Indian tech firm Always Say, which offers search engine optimisation (SEO) services to local clients.

According to vocative.com website, CCA had vowed on messaging app Telegram that they would attack Google on Monday.

However, the website claims that a few hours later, they had instead defaced the website www.addgoogleonline.com, which is completely unrelated to the Silicon Valley-based Google.

After it was hacked, the website played an Islamic State (IS) song in French and displaced the official logo along with a sign saying “Hacked By: CCA”.

The CCA’s “defacement of the website” was short-lived as yet another hacker group called “n3far1ous” wiped out the IS message and replaced it with an “Eat this, ISIS” message and a rock tune playing in the background.

The “n3far1ous” message was still on display on Thursday.

The CCA allegedly hacked into 35 British websites, which appear to be a random mix of relatively small British businesses, media reports said.

The websites hacked into include a Japanese dance instructor’s website, a company selling furniture and laminate flooring and a salon.

IS hackers allegedly said that the attacks were “A message to David Cameron” as revenge for the killing of British Muslim terrorist Junaid Hussain, who was killed in a US-led air strike last year.

The attacks follow pro-IS hackers’ threats that they would target the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey for shutting down their social media accounts.